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Full Freeview on the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmitter

first published this on - UK Free TV
sa_streetviewGoogle Streetviewsa_gmapsGoogle mapsa_bingBing mapsa_gearthGoogle Earthsa_gps54.358,-1.151 or 54°21'30"N 1°9'2"Wsa_postcodeTS9 7JS

 

The symbol shows the location of the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmitter which serves 570,000 homes. The bright green areas shown where the signal from this transmitter is strong, dark green areas are poorer signals. Those parts shown in yellow may have interference on the same frequency from other masts.

Are there any planned engineering works or unexpected transmitter faults on the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) mast?

Bilsdale transmitter - Bilsdale transmitter: Possible effect on TV reception week commencing 11/11/2024 Pixelation or flickering on some or all channels Digital tick


Choose from three options: ■ List by multiplex ■ List by channel number ■ List by channel name
_______

Which Freeview channels does the Bilsdale transmitter broadcast?

If you have any kind of Freeview fault, follow this Freeview reset procedure first.

Digital television services are broadcast on a multiplexes (or Mux) where many stations occupy a single broadcast frequency, as shown below.

MuxH/VFrequencyHeightModeWatts
PSB1
BBCA
 H max
C27 (522.0MHz)676mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
1 BBC One (SD) North East and Cumbria, 2 BBC Two England, 9 BBC Four, 23 BBC Three, 201 CBBC, 202 CBeebies, 231 BBC News, 232 BBC Parliament, plus 16 others

PSB2
D3+4
 H max
C24 (498.0MHz)676mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
3 ITV 1 (SD) (Tyne Tees), 4 Channel 4 (SD) North ads, 5 Channel 5, 6 ITV 2, 10 ITV3, 13 E4, 14 Film4, 15 Channel 4 +1 North ads, 18 More4, 26 ITV4, 28 ITVBe, 30 E4 +1, 35 ITV1 +1 (Tyne Tees), 71 That’s 60s,

PSB3
BBCB
 H max
C21 (474.0MHz)676mDTG-100,000W
Channel icons
46 5SELECT, 101 BBC One HD North East and Cumbria, 102 BBC Two HD England, 103 ITV 1 HD (ITV Granada), 104 Channel 4 HD North ads, 105 Channel 5 HD, 106 BBC Four HD, 107 BBC Three HD, 204 CBBC HD, 205 CBeebies HD, plus 1 others

COM4
SDN
 H -3dB
C43 (650.0MHz)676mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
20 U&Drama, 21 5USA, 29 ITV2 +1, 32 5STAR, 33 5Action, 38 Channel 5 +1, 41 Legend, 42 GREAT! action, 57 U&Dave ja vu, 58 ITV3 +1, 59 ITV4 +1, 64 Blaze, 67 TRUE CRIME, 68 TRUE CRIME XTRA, 81 Blaze +1, 83 Together TV, 91 WildEarth, 93 ITVBe +1, 209 Ketchup TV, 210 Ketchup Too, 211 YAAAS!, 251 Al Jazeera English, 255 FRANCE 24 (in English), 265 Rok Sky +1, plus 29 others

COM5
ArqA
 H -3dB
C46 (674.0MHz)681mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
11 Sky Mix, 17 Really, 19 U&Dave, 31 E4 Extra, 36 Sky Arts, 40 Quest Red, 43 Food Network, 47 Film4 +1, 48 Challenge, 49 4seven, 60 U&Drama +1, 65 That's TV 2, 70 Quest +1, 74 &UYesterday +1, 76 That's TV 2 MCR, 233 Sky News, plus 13 others

COM6
ArqB
 H -3dB
C40 (626.0MHz)681mDTG-850,000W
Channel icons
12 Quest, 25 U&W, 27 U&Yesterday, 34 GREAT! movies, 39 DMAX, 44 HGTV, 52 GREAT! christmas, 56 That's TV (UK), 63 GREAT! romance mix, 73 HobbyMaker, 75 That's 90s, 82 Talking Pictures TV, 84 PBS America, 235 Al Jazeera Eng, plus 18 others

DTG-8 64QAM 8K 3/4 27.1Mb/s DVB-T MPEG2
H/V: aerial position (horizontal or vertical)

Which BBC and ITV regional news can I watch from the Bilsdale transmitter?

regional news image
BBC Look North (Newcastle) 1.6m homes 6.0%
from Newcastle NE99 2NE, 74km north-northwest (336°)
to BBC North East and Cumbria region - 70 masts.
regional news image
ITV Tyne Tees News 1.4m homes 5.4%
from Gateshead NE11 9SZ, 75km north-northwest (333°)
to ITV Tyne Tees region - 47 masts.
All of lunch, weekend and 50% evening news is shared with Border

Are there any self-help relays?

Garsdale (pin Fold)Transposer63 homes (coverage together with SH34)
Hawsker BottomActive deflector 150 caravans
LangthwaiteActive deflector30 homes

How will the Bilsdale (North Yorkshire, England) transmission frequencies change over time?

1984-971997-981998-20122012-1313 Nov 2019
A K TA K TA K TK TW T
C21BBCB
C23C4wavesC4wavesC4wavesBBCB
C24_localD3+4
C26BBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBC2wavesBBCA
C27BBCA
C29ITVwavesITVwavesITVwavesD3+4
C30_local
C31com7
C33BBC1wavesBBC1wavesBBC1waves
C35C5wavesC5waves
C37com8
C40ArqBArqB
C43SDNSDN
C46ArqAArqA
C55tv_offcom7tv_off
C56tv_offCOM8tv_off

tv_off Being removed from Freeview (for 5G use) after November 2020 / June 2022 - more
Table shows multiplexes names see this article;
green background for transmission frequencies
Notes: + and - denote 166kHz offset; aerial group are shown as A B C/D E K W T
waves denotes analogue; digital switchover was 12 Sep 12 and 26 Sep 12.

How do the old analogue and currrent digital signal levels compare?

Analogue 1-5 500kW
BBCA, D3+4, BBCB(-7dB) 100kW
SDN, ARQA, ARQB(-10dB) 50kW
com7(-14.3dB) 18.5kW
com8(-14.4dB) 18.1kW
Mux 2*, Mux A*, Mux B*, Mux C*(-19.2dB) 6kW
Mux 1*(-20.2dB) 4.8kW
Mux D*(-24.9dB) 1.6kW

Which companies have run the Channel 3 services in the Bilsdale transmitter area

May 1956-Jul 1968Granada Television†
May 1956-Jul 1968Associated British Corporation◊
Jul 1968-Jul 1974Yorkshire Television
Jul 1974-Feb 2004Tyne Tees Television
Feb 2004-Dec 2014ITV plc
Feb 1983-Dec 1992TV-am•
Jan 1993-Sep 2010GMTV•
Sep 2010-Dec 2014ITV Daybreak•
• Breakfast ◊ Weekends ♦ Friday night and weekends † Weekdays only. Bilsdale was not an original Channel 3 VHF 405-line mast: the historical information shown is the details of the company responsible for the transmitter when it began transmitting Channel 3.

Is the transmitter output the same in all directions?

Radiation patterns withheld

Comments
Friday, 27 January 2012
M
Mike Rigg
7:34 PM

I live in Stockton-On-Tees and we have been getting a lower freeview signal quality for about the last month or two. This has resulted in our picture regularly breaking up.

Has anyone else experienced any similar problems?

I don't know if it is my aerial set up or transmitter problems.

link to this comment
Mike Rigg's 1 post GB flag
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Briantist
sentiment_very_satisfiedOwner

3:54 PM

Mike Rigg: Can you please see the Freeview reception has changed? | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice page for some suggestions?

link to this comment
Briantist's 38,915 posts GB flag
Friday, 3 February 2012
R
Ronnie
5:00 PM
Darlington

Hi,
I live in DL3 9TN and for the last 2 -3 weeks have had long periods of no signal at all to intermittent pathetic attempts at a signal from the Bilsdale transmitter. It states on this site that there are engineering works on the transmitter. I have built in LG freeview TV 12 months old. I have cleared channels and re-tuned and re-tuned blah blah, but that's not going to help if I have no signal. Who is responsible for the engineering works and how do I contact them to find out how long it will take to fix what wasn't broken previously. I have just cleared channels and retuned to find I can only get BBC 1 & 2 on freeview and all ananlogue channels have no sound. Why pay full price for a TV licence simply to get Beeb 1 & 2. I live in modern purpose built flat therefore no access to areal, would an additional internal areal help. Thanks in advance for any replies

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Ronnie's 2 posts GB flag
Ronnie's: mapR's Freeview map terrainR's terrain plot wavesR's frequency data R's Freeview Detailed Coverage
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

9:42 PM
Huddersfield

Ronnie: To answer but one part of your question, there is engineering work taking place at Bilsdale (@ 21mls) nearly all of the time in preparation for the station switching to high power operation between 12th to 26th of September this year, and unfortunately until then nothing can really be done to help the situation, and which at times is likely to get worse due to the normally occurring seasonal atmospheric changes.

Come late September there should be a vast improvement in the signal, as the present maximum operating power of 6Kw (BBC1 4.8Kw) ranging down to 1.6Kw (MuxD Ch42) will be changing to 100kw for PSB channels and 50Kw for all commercial Muxes.

Depending on your circumstances of whether or not you are one storey or more high, you "might" benefit from the use of an amplified log aerial (about 700mm long) but you could maybe give an update on whether or not you could accommodate this in your flat, the aerial pointing at 124 degrees.


link to this comment
jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
jb38's: mapJ's Freeview map terrainJ's terrain plot wavesJ's frequency data J's Freeview Detailed Coverage
Saturday, 4 February 2012
R
Ronnie
12:38 PM

jb38 - thanks I can accept disruption but not receiving 2 channels and the prospect of this going on till September. Got all Freeview Channels this a.m signal now gone again and back to BBC 1 & 2 only. Wish I knew who to complain to. Freeview web site only supplies an address no email etc, and currently their web site says there's great coverage in my postcode, which is totally untrue.

link to this comment
Ronnie's 2 posts GB flag
J
jb38
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

2:29 PM

Ronnie : I fully realise your frustration about this problem, but in reality there isn't really anything that can be done by anyone that would help the situation.

You could try a test though just to see if you can pick up anything from Pontop Pike @ 25 miles away, as although its also on low power its somewhat higher than Bilsdale, especially the commercial multiplex ArqB / MuxD being on 10Kw compared to the equivalent on Bilsdale being only 1.6Kw.

To try a test on that channel without upsetting any of the channels already stored, go into your TV (or boxes) tuning menu / manual tune section and enter channel 65 (ArqA) in the box provided, but do "not" click on search or scan, because as soon as that channel is entered "if" its possible to receive it will (or should) indicate its signal strength on the scale, make a note of anything shown.

If this works try the same test again but this time entering Ch48, that being BBC from Pontop Pike and which unfortunately is indicated as poor, anyway see what comes up. I will say that obviously the aerial which you have no control over will be pointing in the wrong direction, but you might pick Pontop up on the rear (not quite though) of your aerial, giving an update on results.

The other point I wondered about is if when you lose BBC you have carried out a signal check whilst on that channel when it happens? as it might just be the case that the signal has dipped under the reception threshold of your equipment, and if this has happened then the situation could possibly be helped no end by the inclusion of an amplifier in line with your aerial socket., as that would keep the signal running at a higher level whereby any dip in signal reception would not drop under the cut out level.

By the way, the link shows what's indicated for your area, if you hover the mouse pointer over a channel number it indicates the TX power in use.

Postcode Checker - Trade View (Ch48 th)

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jb38's 7,179 posts GB flag
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
M
mike Roberts
sentiment_satisfiedBronze

3:01 AM

I can just make out a very snowy channel 5 from this Transmitter its not watchable or anything but I am getting it all the way in Aspull Wigan! it has to be from here all the other masts near by have gone over to digital only.

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mike Roberts's 42 posts GB flag
Sunday, 25 March 2012
D
david newton
7:17 PM

6yo14 9as,
We seem to be progressively losing itv channels on digital. But the engineering notice only seems to talk about bbc last week

link to this comment
david newton's 1 post GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:35 PM

david newton: That is because the engineering messages are from the BBC; which is what the "[BBC]" means. The BBC only provides reports of work that is affecting or will affect its own services.

Digital UK does not mention Bilsdale has having any work carried out at all.

There is another report made an hour ago about loss of the channels you mention, although the person has not said which transmitter he is using, Bilsdale looks pretty likely:

Seaham digital switchover date | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

And another about issues with all channels this morning:

My Freeview box has no EPG, is blank on FIVE, ITV3, ITV4, ITV2+1, has no sound or the channel line up is wrong | ukfree.tv - independent free digital TV advice

link to this comment
Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
Dave Lindsay
sentiment_very_satisfiedPlatinum

7:45 PM

david newton: You are predicted as being able to receive Yorkshire Region programming from Oliver's Mount now.

Oliver's Mount is one of a few stations that has seen the power of its digital services post-switchover being higher than that of former analogue ones. This means that its coverage area will have increased. So if you couldn't pick it up before, you might be able to get it now if you would to change region.

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Dave Lindsay's 5,724 posts GB flag
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